New Stem?

**SouthernBelle** · 11-02-2006, 03:34 PM

Thanks Darcy. Hadn't really thought about the bars being too wide for me, But I will look at that too. Of course pink would clash with my orange trimmed bike.

**xeney** · 11-02-2006, 05:54 PM

I just remembered that my husband -- who is a little over 5'8, maybe 5'9 -- had to swap out the stem on his Giant to a 9 cm because he was getting backaches. You guys have the exact same bike, I think -- a medium 2005 OCR C3. It's just on the verge of being too big for him so I'm not at all surprised that you feel like you need to swap out the stem.

His other bikes are 54 cm and 56 cm and they fit him fine; he had a lot of problems with the geometry of that Giant.

**wannaduacentury** · 11-02-2006, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by xeney

I just remembered that my husband -- who is a little over 5'8, maybe 5'9 -- had to swap out the stem on his Giant to a 9 cm because he was getting backaches. You guys have the exact same bike, I think -- a medium 2005 OCR C3. It's just on the verge of being too big for him so I'm not at all surprised that you feel like you need to swap out the stem.

His other bikes are 54 cm and 56 cm and they fit him fine; he had a lot of problems with the geometry of that Giant.

I have the Medum OCR 2 and I'm 5'8 and leggy, long arms avg torso for a gal. I have that adjustable stem on mine and I'll eventually swap it out for a shorter one. I want to ride a little more to fine tune my fit. I'm a little stretched, but I enjoy the ride so it doesn't really bother me right now. I like the geometry-it was a big selling point for me anyways. Jennifer

**SouthernBelle** · 11-03-2006, 05:14 AM

I think the geometry on that bike works well for women overall, might even be hard on a guy's proportions.

A friend on another board asked me if I had tried flipping the stem. (Another duh). So I'm going to drag it into the living room, garage has gotten strangely cold, tonight and give that a shot. May just make me too upright.

I got a coupon from Nashbar too, so If I'm going to do this I don't want to wait too long.

OK, I'm occasionally thrifty.

**SouthernBelle** · 11-04-2006, 09:58 AM

I ordered a stem and will report back on the results.

**limewave** · 11-06-2006, 12:51 PM

Darcy,
I love the additional brakes! What a great idea. When I was pg I always rode in that more upright position. I was always really nervous about having to make sudden stops because I had to move my hands to brake. Next time I get pg, I'll have to see if they can make that addition to my bike as well.

**SouthernBelle** · 11-14-2006, 04:53 AM

Just wanted to say my new stem came in last night (mail ran at 5:30!). I got it on but haven't been able to try it out yet. It looks so short and fat.

**SouthernBelle** · 11-18-2006, 08:58 AM

Finally got to ride with the new stem today, and it is an improvement. It's a 65mm. I'm also looking at new bars, trying to decide between 40 and 38 cm Salsa Poco. I've got an alert set up on ebay, which if anyone is interested has a 36 for 10.00.

**suz** · 11-29-2006, 02:51 PM

Hi,

My first post here, but I couldn't help but offer my two cents (about what it's worth!).

Did your LBS fit you to a size medium without trying a small first? I'm 5'7" and fit bikes with a top tube of anywhere between 53cm to 54cm coupled with a 100-110mm stem. I'm also leggy (80cm inseam) and ride with a fairly flat back and stretched out position. If I'm not mistaken, the top tube on a medium Giant is 55.5--way too long even for me. I don't know why you would have been sized to a medium unless you had issues of not enough saddle setback or the need of a taller headtube, etc. Riding a bike that's so big that you have to use a very short stem (<80mm) and shove the seat far forward to obtain a comfortable reach can adversely affect your weight distribution and create handling problems.

In any event, I hope you resolved your fit issues and are out there riding and having fun

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